Comments on: Guardian 25,581 / Rufus

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 20:08:16 +0000

Thanks Eileen! We were short of puzzles to do today and downloaded this one based on your preamble!
Needed to cheat for the last one – Hector – but Chris (aka Bert) really laughed at Bucket!

By: Giovanna

Giovanna — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:39:15 +0000

Hi Eileen,

My Chambers is the 2001 edition, so they must have decided to return to the original. My father had written 18th February 1913 (his birthday) on the fly leaf of his edition, which is very well thumbed and loved.

Giovanna x

By: tupu

tupu — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:14:39 +0000

re 2d
I have only come across ‘hector’ as a verb meaning to bully and assumed, as Eileen’s comment, that that was intended.

By: Plotinus

Plotinus — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:57:53 +0000

Mother had an ironic bent – as did many of these old sayings.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:55:29 +0000

“eat a peck of dirt before you die”
This is about one fiftieth of a cubic inch per day – hardly a health risk!
(for those of a metric bent that’s about 300 cubic millimetres)

By: Plotinus

Plotinus — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:31:17 +0000

Sad to see the noblest of the Trojans reduced to a bully, even though the dictionaries support it.

When mother said ‘eat a peck of dirt before you die’ she meant a whole lot of it. Not that there might be a few impurities.

Not that we expect our crosswords to convey deep truths…

By: Brendan (not that one)

Brendan (not that one) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:18:49 +0000

Median @7 no it’s not only you apparently but I personally found this harder than the usual Rufus!

Nametab @22, I also had Belter for 2d and still think it’s as good (or bad) as the suggested “Hector”

By: Eileen

Eileen — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:03:14 +0000

Edward, I have a bad habit of not looking up words that I think I know and I had not come across ‘hector’ as ‘a bully’ but I see now that it is in Chambers as a common noun. However, without the second definition of the boy’s name, Hector, there’s surely nothing at all cryptic about the clue?

By: nametab

nametab — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:03:07 +0000

Typically neat and straightforward Rufus. Usual admirable anagrams. Is exclamation mark at 2ac needed? I had ‘belter’ as a result because it’s a colloquial expression meaning ‘well done you!’(but I should have thought it through).

By: Edward

Edward — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:01:44 +0000

Chambers seems happy that ‘hector’ is a perfectly good noun – no proper required. I think 2d makes more sense like this.